The winner takes it all

Steve Tikolo: Kenya's veteran captain will need to be on top form against Bermuda © AFP

Bermuda arrive in Nairobi on Wednesday hoping to leave the problems that have dogged them in recent weeks back in the Caribbean.

On Sunday, Bermuda play their four-day Intercontinental Cup tie against Kenya, and that is followed by three ODIs at Mombasa. While the Cup match has little significance to Kenya, who are already effectively out after two poor results, Bermuda could still qualify if they win. But the real interest will be in the one-dayers, which will be crucial in gauging how preparations for the World Cup are coming along.

Bermuda hardly arrive in good shape. The players have until this week been embroiled in a row with the board over contracts, fast bowler George O'Brien has been ditched for disciplinary reasons, and batsman Lionel Cann stands accused of fraudulently claiming compensation for time spent away from work after it emerged that he had been absent from his job for "several months".

When Bermuda qualified for the World Cup in July 2005, they were awarded $11 million by the government to help them prepare. That, and cash from Allan Stanford's initiative, seemed to be all they needed to mount a serious challenge to be considered among the best of the rest. But since then they have struggled, with a heavy defeat to Canada in the Intercontinental Cup and two thrashings by a weak Zimbabwe side in a one-day event in the Caribbean in May.

Three ODI wins over Canada offered some solace, but the public and authorities back home will be asking serious questions if they return from Kenya without something tangible to show for a substantial investment.

Kenya, meanwhile, continue to struggle to get their act together, and the selectors, who have chopped and changed lately, will need to settle on a side to take them into the World Cup and stick with it. A one-day whitewash at home to Bangladesh underlined how much ground has been lost by the bitter infighting which followed Kenya reaching the World Cup semi-final in 2003. Four years ago, Bermuda would have been meat and drink to Kenya, but times have moved on while Kenyan cricket has moved backwards.

The new Cricket Kenya board is beginning to make progress and to clear much of the wreckage that it inherited. But the public, like those in Bermuda, will be looking for tangible evidence that the side is back on track.

In a fortnight's time, one side will emerge with hope, leaving the other facing tough questions and, in all likelihood, recriminations. It's hardly a battle of India-Pakistan proportions, but in world cricket's second XI it doesn't get much more important than this.